1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an outboard motor having a throttle and a gear shifter.
2. Description of the Related Art
Outboard motors typically have a throttle that controls the supply of air to the engine, and thus generally controls engine speed. Outboard motors also typically included a gear shifter for shifting between forward, neutral and reverse gears. If the throttle opening is increased when the shift position is the neutral position, that is, in the state where the engine is in a no-load state, the engine speed becomes extremely high, leading to various malfunctions. To avoid this, some outboard motors are equipped with a throttle opening regulating mechanism (see Japanese Patent Document JP-A-Hei 04-260892).
In an outboard motor, the engine is covered by a cowl, so the concentration of HC in the cowl often becomes high due to the drive of the engine. The throttle opening when the shift position is the neutral position is regulated in some conventional throttle opening regulating mechanisms. Thus, when the engine is to be started after warm-up, it is often difficult to start the engine if the concentration of HC in the cowl has become high, because the throttle opening regulation may not allow the user to increase the air intake amount sufficient to overcome the high HC concentration.
Some outboard motors are equipped with a shift operation regulating mechanism that permits throttle opening operation but disables shift operation when the shift position is the neutral position (see Japanese Patent Document JP-A-2000-213380). Such structure is disposed in a specially-constructed steering handle of the motor.